Microsoft Reconsiders Performance Reviews by Changing Its Chief People Officer

Microsoft is reevaluating its performance review process and, as a result, replacing its chief people officer.

The report states that Kathleen Hogan, who previously held the title, will be moved to a new position as executive vice president of the “Office of Strategy and Transformation.”

According to the report, she will be succeeded by Amy Coleman, a Microsoft HR executive with 25 years of experience at the company in engineering, sales, marketing, and business development.

In a company email announcing the change, CEO Satya Nadella was quoted in the report as writing, “As we’ve seen time and again throughout our 50-year history, times of great change for the world and our industry require us to have a mindset that enables us to continually adapt and transform ourselves.”

He remarked that “there’s no question that we are at the forefront of another such moment, with rapid changes across every industry and business function in this AI era.”

When Nadella became the head of the company in 2014, one of his initial leadership actions was to appoint Hogan as Microsoft’s CPO.

Hogan has over 20 years of experience at Microsoft and came with prior experience as a partner at McKinsey in Silicon Valley and a development manager at Oracle, Nadella noted in his email.

According to the report, this announcement follows Microsoft’s decision to terminate nearly 2,000 employees in January and February, classifying them as low performers.

According to the report, Coleman is expected to significantly influence the redesign of Microsoft’s performance review process.